So this is now going to have three parts because my muse is evil and rambly, lol.  But in the meantime, here is part two.

Usually nothing calmed Matt Houston down like the feel of a hot shower, the spray pounding against his back as he let his mind quiet down and he looked for focus on whatever it was he needed to figure out.  But today the water and steam were doing little to ease the tension in his muscles or the throbbing in his head.

As sure as he was that this morning had been a step in the right direction, Houston couldn't deny the toll that his questions and the answers to them had taken on C.J.  She had pleaded with him to let her ride back to the house alone, saying she needed some time to clear her head, and so he'd waited twenty minutes before heading back himself.  When he'd reached the stable and found her car gone and Bo brushing down Golden Boy--something she always preferred to do herself--he realized that he was not overestimating how rattled she was by his suddenly renewed interest in their relationship.

He hated that because of his effort to repair what he had left broken between them, she was now hurting all over again.  But Houston couldn't say he wished he had left things alone, not when C.J. had been carrying around the idea that it was her that was lacking, that he'd somehow wanted his freedom because she wasn't enough.  Every time he closed his eyes, her face as she'd explained how she had taken his rejection came vividly into his mind, and he wondered if he really could find a way to erase some of the scars he had caused by not being able to manage his feelings all this time.

"All this time," he said, shaking his head.  He'd wasted so much time, and it didn't make any sense to him.  Was it as simple as just not having been ready for what it meant to commit to this particular woman?   Because Lord knew he'd thought he was ready to commit to others along the way.  So had he just been scared of knowing there was no going back once he turned to C.J. and reclaimed the life he'd given up so long ago?  Because he knew certainly that was true.  Once he surrendered to the fullness of what those dreams had been, what they'd become, he was in for life.  But if fear had motivated his ignorance before, it had morphed now into his biggest motivator.  The fear of never having that life now consumed him.

Despite the continued tightness in his muscles and the pounding in his head, a small smile pulled at the corners of Matt's mouth as he remembered the picture they had painted together, two childhood friends and sometimes young loves who, in college, had finally realized that they more than loved each other, they were in love.  Back then, he had planned to play some football and ranch, and C.J. had her eyes set on saving the little guy from injustice.  They'd talked about kids... he wanted five, she wanted three.  They both figured they'd meet in the middle...  a house on one of the stretches of land his father had given him, maybe a second in Washington D.C. for when she was rattling her sword at the Supreme Court... it had seemed perfect.

And then... then Will decided to enlist, and so Matt followed suit.  And in the aftermath of Vietnam, after believing he'd watched his cousin die in the middle of hell, Houston had lost sight of what had once seemed to suit him so well.  The idea of doing something frivolous like playing pro football no longer felt right, and ranching left him too disconnected from the world around him.  War had also made him restless... he needed to be doing something constantly.  And so he'd finished school and headed off to start Houston Industries, forgoing an offer to work with his father.  That kept him moving, kept him busy... kept him from thinking too much.

And the wife and the kids part of his once idyllic life image?  He'd still wanted them, but he no longer felt ready for them.  And it had been that which he'd failed to communicate to anyone because he couldn't see it himself, not then.  Only time and finally, after he'd realized just how troubled he was from the war, counseling, had allowed him to see what made perfect sense but had felt so baffling in those first months he'd been home.  He hadn't felt the same because he wasn't the same.  And instead of giving himself permission to be changed, he'd felt guilty, as if he was betraying everyone who loved him, especially C.J.

None of that excused how badly he'd hurt her, though.  And now Matt knew that he not only had to convince C.J. he was serious about wanting her again as more than his best friend, he also had to find some way to heal the wounds he'd left behind.

First things first... as he turned off the water and reached for his towel, Matt took a deep breath and said out loud what had been in his head for hours now.

"I love C.J."

He ran the towel over his body, and as he started to dry his hair, he scolded himself.

"No, you've always loved C.J.  You are in love with C.J.  You're in love with her.  You... I... I am in love with C.J.  I..."

The sound of his bedroom door crashing open stopped Matt's self-conscious ramble, and he went into a defensive position in the corner of the bathroom as he wrapped the towel in his hands around his waist.

"Houston?"

C.J.'s voice let him relax a little, but he knew her too well not to pick up the fear in her tone.  Matt reached for the doorknob and opened it, revealing himself to the panicked brunette standing in the middle of his bedroom with a gun in her hand.  She was a master with one, and yet he knew after all the gun violence they'd both been a part of, that a gun to her meant one thing--protection.

"C.J., what's the matter?"

She didn't answer his question, instead rushing toward him as she tossed the gun on the bed and, undeterred by his still damp skin, threw her arms around him.

"You're okay?"

It was a question, and she still sounded terrified, and so he held her tightly and tried to comfort her against the still mysterious thing that was upsetting her.

"I'm all right, but now I'm worried about you.  What's going on?"

C.J. held on to him for another moment before she eased back and looked up at him.

"There were four messages on my machine from Hoyt.  He said he called here, but the machine just kept picking up.  I thought..."

They were still holding on to each other, one's hands on the other's arms, and Houston squeezed slightly to reassure her that he was there and he was okay.

"C.J., what happened?"

"Cord Cody escaped from prison two days ago."

The words hit him like a shock of cold air and he literally had to think about taking his next breath to make it happen.  Cord Cody... what remained of the father-and-son team who had tried to destroy his life not once, but twice, killing numerous people along the way, including the biological father Houston had known for less then two days.

If Cord was on the loose, it meant one thing... he was looking for revenge for his father's death.  That Elgin had died at Matt's hand in a true act of self-defense wouldn't matter, that his father had murdered at least a half-dozen people in his schemes... that wouldn't matter either.  Cord was going to want blood, and now everyone Matt Houston loved was likely in danger.

Raw instinct made him pull her closer, and he felt C.J. holding him just as tightly.

"He's not going to hurt us anymore, C.J., I promise you that.  We've suffered all we're going to at the hands of the Codys."

*****

In an effort to lighten the tension whenever the subject of Elgin and Cord Cody arose, Houston would often tease that if they had hired someone to write a movie of the story, no one would buy it because it was simply too ridiculous.  One Texas millionaire plots to steal land from another by replacing him with an exact replica.  When that plan goes south, said Texas millionaire then has millionaire number two kidnapped, brain washed and framed for murder to discredit him as a witness in court.  It was utterly ridiculous... unless you'd lived it.

The details of their crimes were the kinds of things that rattled Matt to his core.  They had involved Sharon Dardis, who it turned out was Cord's lover.  In the past, she'd been Houston's most serious high school girlfriend in between reconciliations with C.J., and he'd fallen for her helpless act completely when she'd shown up in L.A. to lure him back to Texas.  The Codys then engineered an oil rig accident overseas to draw Bill Houston out of the country, leaving Matt virtually defenseless as their plot to replace him with the plastic-surgery-altered con man was set in motion.

Bodies piled up... the men on the rig, the doctor they'd killed to cover up the plastic surgery, and Virgil Wade... the name that officially sat on a death certificate in the Houston, Texas, hall of records with only Matt knowing the man's true identity, with no one realizing the key role the mysterious man had played in saving him from the Codys' scheme.

It was only later, once Andrew Williams--the con man Elgin had recruited--was in custody that Matt learned the trio had already planned how to stage a car accident to get rid of C.J. if she failed to buy the impersonation.

More bodies followed a year later when Elgin Cody's secretary Veronica had lost her life trying to do the right thing by turning over tapes that proved Elgin's guilt in the whole "Houston Double" plot.  But the Codys hadn't settled for simply murdering the poor woman, they had decided to destroy Matt in the process.  Kidnapped and drugged, he lost a full month of his life and when he was finally returned, it was to stumble into accusations that he'd killed Veronica.

This time out, the Codys had decided not to do their own dirty work, and so the body count didn't just increase or even double, it had gone through the roof.  Peter Martin Delaney, a former Army officer, had no respect for human life, and the man had killed anyone who got in his way, including Andrea Flynn, a police officer and former girlfriend who'd risked her career and ended up losing her life trying to prove Houston's innocence.

The gunfire on that awful night hadn't only felled Andrea, though.  Matt and C.J. had been trapped by the shooters, and as they took their only escape route, she had been shot.  Even as blood poured out of her shoulder, C.J. had tried to send him back to get the evidence they needed to prove he'd been kidnapped and framed, and whenever he thought back to that moment, what stunned him was how sincerely she'd meant it.  There she was bleeding to death, and yet worried about saving him.  But everything in him was focused on saving her, and even though it meant surrendering to the police, Matt had rushed her to the hospital where the surgeons had thankfully saved her life.

He'd escaped later with Hoyt's help and gone to confront Elgin Cody.  When he demanded at gunpoint that Elgin write a full confession, Cody had drawn on him before falling victim to the single shot Matt fired in return.  It had ultimately been ruled self-defense, but Houston couldn't deny that a part of him had been eternally grateful when his nemesis had reached for his gun.

More weeks of his life were lost as he hunted down the rest of the men who had framed him and he remained cut off from home, from C.J. and from any sense of normalcy in his life.  But finally, with his Uncle Roy's help, Houston had uncovered a secret code that might lead him to Delaney.  The problem?  They couldn't break the code.  So he had risked a stop in L.A. to turn it over to C.J., knowing she would find a way to solve the puzzle.   And solve it she had.  Delaney's hideout had been revealed to them and Houston and his few allies had staged a raid on the stronghold, securing the proof they needed to clear his name.  Finally... finally the nightmare had been over.

At least they'd thought it was until now.

Matt threw on some clothes and called in extra security for his home, C.J.'s and the office before he and C.J. hopped on the helicopter and headed into the city.  By the time they got there, Hoyt, Vince Novelli, Murray, Chris, Roy and Will were already hard at work putting together a timeline on Cord's escape and checking financial and travel records for any sign of just what their enemy was planning.

Their friends at Texas Public Safety had been able to get the warden to admit he'd let 24 hours pass before reporting Cord's escape, sure that Cody hadn't been able to get off prison grounds.  That meant he had a big head start on them and could be virtually anywhere in the world by now.

Using Baby's remarkable data retrieval programs, Roy had assembled a money trail that started in the trust of Cord's mother, Regina Cody, and ended in the Caymans.  That meant their adversary was funded, probably fairly substantially if he was moving money via wire from place to place.  Houston made a mental note to ask Texas Public Safety to talk to the federal agents who had assured everyone that the Cody's assets had all been frozen or confiscated.

The phones had been ringing off the hook since their arrival as the group shared information and began to piece together what they could about the escape.  Then the phone rang again and Chris yelled out that the call was for C.J.  She moved to the phone on the bar and when Matt heard her say "Hey, Pete," he knew the call was from his father's house... now his house... in Texas.  Neither he nor C.J. could bring themselves to think of it as anything other than Bill Houston's house, though.  It just didn't feel right.

Houston was about to turn back to the others when he saw the change in C.J.'s expression, and he knew that something was wrong.  He started toward her, and when she noticed his approach, she put up her hand to silently ask for another moment.

"No, Pete, I'll tell him.  I'm sure we'll see you soon."

As she hung up the phone, Houston stepped even closer and put his hand on C.J.'s arm.  Her face had paled during the course of the call, and he knew that bad news was coming.

"What is it?"

C.J. looked at him and didn't even try to hide her upset.

"Your father's house... someone set it on fire.  It's... Pete says they're trying, but... there's been a lot of damage."

There was no wondering who or why... Cord wasn't interested in playing games and he'd clearly found a way to hide in plain sight on his home turf.  He wanted Houston to come to Texas, and his invitation was one he knew the P.I. would be unable to turn down.

"I'll call the airport and have Buzz get the jet ready."

Her words were matter-of-fact, and Matt nodded and turned back towards their friends, who now looked twice as worried as they had a moment ago.

"You're gonna give him exactly what he wants?" Vince asked.

Will chimed in before Houston could respond.  "Cousin, don't go charging in there looking to take this guy head-on."

When Hoyt moved to offer yet a third voice to the argument, Houston cut him off.

"Look, I know you're all worried and trying to help, and I appreciate it, but there's nothing to discuss here.  I'm going to Texas and this is going to end as soon as I can find that son of a bitch."

"That's not how you play a hand like this," Hoyt countered.  "You lay low, draw him out."

"And how many of you get hurt while we're doing that?"

C.J. hung up the phone as she spoke, and then moved to Matt's side.

"Every time we think we can go up against the Codys by our rules, innocent people die.  We all barely made it out alive the last time."

Houston looked to her gratefully for a moment before he focused on the others.

"C.J. is right.  He's already attacked daddy's house.  He could have hurt the staff, and he didn't give a damn.  We drag this out, he'll come after all of you to try to get me out in the open.  This time, head-on is the only choice we have."

The resolve in his voice must have been enough to head off any other arguments, because the group fell silent, exchanging looks as if asking who else had something to say.  Finally, Roy cleared his throat.

"What is it you need us to do, boy?"

"Keep trying to find out whose hands are on Cord's purse strings.  He can't have setup those Cayman accounts himself, and I doubt his mother's directly involved.  We need to know who's helping him."

Roy nodded.  "I'll take care of it."

"You need some backup, Cousin.  Want me to come along for the ride?"

Matt glanced at Will and shook his head.

"I appreciate the offer, but I want you to stick close to your dad, make sure that this time around, no one else I care about gets dragged into this.  All of you, please, watch each other's backs."

The weight of what was happening settled over all of them in the moment after Houston finished speaking.  Another war with the Codys, another life-and-death struggle... and despite all their hopes, they all knew there was no way to guarantee it would come out on their side.

"I'll grab the lockbox out of the safe," C.J. offered as she leaned close to his side.  "You get the bags?"

He stood there, mulling over her words, the certainty in her eyes.  The idea of her going with him wasn't something she'd even considered open for discussion, and Houston realized that he, too, had never even entertained a thought of leaving her behind.  The reality was, as vulnerable as he might be via his family and friends, Cord had been around too long and was far too smart not to know that if he wanted to get to Matt, C.J. was the most direct route.  Taking her with him to Texas drew her closer to the situation, but leaving her behind left her without his protection, and too many times, Houston had tried to keep her safe by leaving her out of a situation only to expose her to the very danger he wanted to keep at bay.

And he knew that even if he'd tried to get her to stay behind in Los Angeles, she would've looked at him like he'd lost his mind, grabbed her own overnight bag from the gym closet, and then not spoken to him the entire trip... but she would never have agreed because she had listened before and done what he'd asked only to have to work three times as hard later and face twice as much danger to save him from his own missteps.

"Meet you at the elevator," he said finally, and C.J. headed to her office to grab their passports and emergency paperwork--cover I.D.s, secondary bank records--while he went to grab the two overnight bags they'd long ago started keeping at the office for the days when they couldn't spare the time to run back to their homes to pack before rushing off to follow a lead.

Five minutes later, they were in front of the elevator doors exchanging hugs and handshakes with the people who made up their inner circle.

"You need a hand, you call, and I'll be on the first plane," Vince offered before pulling Matt into a tight hug.

"I always count on it," he replied.

The elevator bell dinged and the doors opened, and Matt held them while C.J. received one last hug from Roy.

"We'll expect you two home in one piece.  See to it that's how we get you."

"We'll do our best," Houston promised, and then he released the elevator doors and let them close.  C.J. leaned back against the rear wall of the elevator, her eyes closing as the motor hummed through their descent.

As he watched her, a part of him prodded his guilty conscience.  He shouldn't take her near this.  He should beg her to go so far under that no one, not even he could find her until this was over.  And it wasn't even the futility of it that stopped him.  Sure, he knew that she would refuse, that she'd fly to Texas alone if need be to stand at his side.  But the truth of it, Matt knew, was that he wanted her with him.  He was stronger with C.J. next to him, and he had never needed that strength more than he did now.

Still, the reality of what they were facing was undeniable.  Cord and his family had nearly destroyed their world.  And Houston could lose most of it again... he could lose his the company, his fortune, even his name if that's what it took to stop the Codys once and for all.  But there were some things he would never sacrifice, not even to erase this threat forever.

"You promise me if Cord gets anywhere near you, you shoot first and worry about justification later."

C.J.'s eyes opened and she turned her face slightly, looking him dead in the eye.

"You promise me the same thing."

He nodded his agreement.  She reciprocated just as the elevator began to come to a stop.  Houston switched both of their bags into his left hand, then he reached out for hers with his right.  Her fingers laced with his just before they walked out together to face whatever was waiting for them back at their childhood home.

*****

One of Houston's favorite childhood memories was ironically from the worst year of his young life.  Still plagued by nightmares from his kidnapping and still struggling to communicate with most of the adults in his life, young Matt had found it nearly impossible to get a decent night's sleep.  He was exhausted, but he couldn't bring himself to talk about it with anyone because he knew they'd want to know what the dreams were about and try to help him, and he couldn't talk about it because anytime he tried, his voice failed him.

After nearly two weeks with barely any rest, Matt had been sitting in his tree house with C.J. while she read him "Charlotte's Web," which was her favorite book.  And for no good reason other than being totally exhausted and sick of being scared, Matt broke down crying.  C.J. had put the book down immediately and moved to him, her arms wrapping around his shoulders.

"Matt, is the bad man still in your dreams?"

All he could do was nod and cry, and his friend had sat there and held him until the sun started to go down, and Matt's worried father came and coaxed them inside before it got dark.

All too soon it was bedtime, and the terrified little boy bit the inside of his cheek as his father tucked him in and asked if there was anything he needed.  Knowing he'd never be able to get the words out, Matt hadn't even tried.  Instead he'd just shaken his head and settled down under his blankets, praying morning would find a way to come more quickly.

Bill Houston had been gone little more than an hour when Matt heard his door start to open.  His face was turned away from the portal, and fear raced through him as he wondered if the nightmare man had come back to get him.

"It's just me, Matt."

C.J.'s whisper let him breathe again, and he turned toward her as she carefully closed the door.

"What are you doing here?" he whispered.

"I asked Ma Gracie if she'd let me back in later.  She said she would if I promised to help her cook tomorrow."

"But why are you here?"

She walked up to the bed, setting the book they'd been reading earlier on the nightstand.  That was when he noticed how she was dressed.

"You're in your pajamas!" he said, hoping he hadn't been too loud.

"Mm-hmm," she replied.  "Move over."

Confused, Matt did as C.J. asked, and he scooted over as she climbed up and got into bed next to him.

"You just need someone to make sure he can't come get you," she told him.  "So I'll watch out for you, and you can get some sleep."

"But aren't you gonna sleep?"

She shook her head and cuddled into the blankets.

"I'm gonna read my book.  I'll just take a nap tomorrow."

"But--"

"No buts, Matt.  You want me to read to you till you fall asleep?"

He had nodded and laid down, too tired to really put up much of a fight even if he was really worried about her staying up all night.   C.J. read softly to him of Charlotte the spider's plans to help her friend Wilbur the pig stay alive and safe and happy, and soon Matt's eyes had drifted shut.  The next thing he knew, it was morning, and C.J. was sitting in the bed beside him, smiling despite how sleepy she looked.

"Did you have a good dream?"

The truth was, he couldn't remember his dream.  And maybe that made it good simply because he hadn't woken up scared or screaming for the first time in so very long.

"I'm not sure.  But it's better to wake up and see my best friend."

Her smile grew bigger and then she climbed out of the bed. 

"I gotta go help Ma Gracie make breakfast.  You want regular pancakes or blueberry?"

"Blueberry, and I'll help!"

The two of them had rushed downstairs and soon the cook had them hard at work stirring batter and washing blueberries and squeezing fresh orange juice.  And when Bill Houston had wandered in and eyed C.J.'s  pajamas, Ma Gracie had laughed and said, "Can you believe it?  Child ran across two ranches in her jammies just to get the first pancake off my grill."

That morning had been magic for the traumatized little boy he had been.  For the first time since his kidnapping, Matt had felt normal.  He was happy and laughing and for once, no longer tired.  The road to him healing had been months and years yet in the making, but on that day, Matt Houston had remembered what it felt like to be himself.  And he'd had his best friend to thank for such an amazing gift.

He couldn't help but think of that long ago day as the car pulled up in front of his father's house and Houston felt C.J.'s grip tighten on his hand as she drew in a horror-struck gasp.  The kitchen where they had spent so many days in Ma Gracie's loving care was gone, collapsed in from the damage of the fire.  That meant two of the guest rooms were also gone.  Mercifully, the opposite side of the house, which housed his father's bedroom and office, looked unscathed.  But there was no denying that their gratitude over what remained was tempered with grief over what had been lost.

Pete stopped the car and they all climbed out, staring at the partially ruined structure.

"I got a crew full of men all ready to start putting it back together, Houston, whenever you're ready.  I'm awful sorry we couldn't get it out sooner."

Matt nodded and gave his friend a pat on the shoulder.

"I know y'all did the best you could.  I appreciate it."

"The, uh, the big guest house is all set up for you two.  Fire marshal said he'd be by later to give you a summary of the report, but the fire captain who was out here said it looks like someone set off a small bomb in the kitchen to start the whole thing."

Pete continued to update him on the extra security they'd placed and a rundown of personnel on the property, and Houston took it in even as he watched C.J. wander toward the house, her slow journey taking her to where the side door to the kitchen had once stood.

He knew someone well-intentioned would tell them that nothing could take away the memories they had in that kitchen... steal away the sound of Ma Gracie's laughter while they covered each other in flour or the look of absolute concentration on C.J.'s face the day she'd baked her first apple pie from scratch for him and his daddy.  And he knew that was true, the memories were safe.  But the pain in his chest was undeniable.  A part of him was so glad his father hadn't lived to see this.

After saying his good-byes to Pete, who was headed up to drop their things off at the guest house, Matt joined C.J. and they resolutely headed inside to see how much damage was hidden from them by the walls that were still standing.  Floors and wallpaper stood ruined from the water and smoke, the living room had also taken an intense hit from the collapse of the guest rooms, and the dining room and all it's antique furniture was a total loss.  But other things that mattered more had survived... pictures, the oil painting of Matt and his father.  They tried to be grateful for that as they gathered up some papers and photos they didn't want to risk leaving behind.

Back at the guest house, the phones began ringing with updates from L.A. and from the authorities in Texas.  Vince and Hoyt had been working their law enforcement connections and it turned out that Cord's mother had been in a nursing home for nearly six months.  Roy had used Baby to track down the wire transfers from Texas to the Caymans, which had started almost immediately after Mrs. Cody had been safely out of the way.  An old Company contact of Roy's had pulled some strings and frozen the account, which was sure to get a reaction out of Cord sooner rather than later now that he'd lost his money.  But Texas DPS, despite numerous leads, had no concrete ideas yet on where he might be hiding out. 

It all basically added up to them being no closer to knowing what exactly Cord was planning than they had been this morning when all hell had broken loose.  But Houston knew it wouldn't be long before his nemesis made his next move.  With nothing much to do in the meantime, Matt and C.J. made some dinner and tried not to dwell on how alien it felt to be "at home" and not be in the house they'd spent so much of their lives in.

"Daddy used to say that Cord was just a product of who raised him."

Matt offered the observation as he walked toward C.J. with two cups of coffee in hand.  She rose up slightly from the couch to take hers, then settled back against the thick cushions as he sat down at the opposite end.

"Every time I'd come home and tell him about some awful thing Cord had done when we were all kids and that jerk was a big bully who scared everyone, Daddy would say, 'he wasn't born bad, Matt.  His daddy just didn't teach him any better.'  Sometimes it makes me wonder what would have happened if I'd had a different father."

"Hardly something you had to worry about," she said.  "No one could ask for a better father than Bill."

She offered him a comforting smile, and it made him feel better even if he knew she didn't fully understand how big a question that truly was for him.  And that thought filled Houston with a renewed sense of regret that he'd never told C.J. the truth about Virgil Wade and what had really happened down here during the Codys attempted coup.  There were so few secrets he'd kept from her, and it seemed if he'd learned anything from the painful conversation they had shared earlier in the day, it was that he only hurt her when he didn't tell her the truth.

"I may have gotten much luckier than either of us ever knew."

C.J. looked at him, wondering at what he meant, waiting for him to go on.

"I... I found out something during our first go-round with the Codys, something that... the only reason I didn't tell you was I promised Daddy would never find out I knew, and I just couldn't ask you to lie to him.  I knew you'd hate that."

Now she looked more concerned than confused, and she moved closer, her hand settling on his arm.

"Houston, what?"

"You remember when I came back to L.A., asked you to do research on Virgil Wade?"

"The man your imposter killed?  Yes, I remember you were... you didn't seem like yourself, and I couldn't believe the coincidence, that his real last name was Matlock..."

Her voice trailed off, and Matt sighed and nodded, knowing she'd figured out the rest.

"But how is that possible?  Bill..."

"He was Wade Matlock's best friend.  My mother did die in childbirth... but she was his wife, not Bill's.  And Wade, he couldn't take it.  So he gave me to Daddy.  He said that by the time he came back, he couldn't take me away from the only father I'd ever known, and so he just let me go."

"You said back then he'd shown up talking about the doctor who did the plastic surgery on the imposter.  So he found out what the Codys were doing and came back?"

Houston nodded and cleared his throat.  "Yeah.  The doctor was an old friend of his and he knew, I guess, about me.  So he called Wade to try to warn him."

"And he tried to protect you."

C.J.'s hand squeezed his arm gently, and Houston looked up and smiled slightly at her words.

"I don't think he meant to tell me the truth, it just... came out.  And I didn't want to believe him.  Then I hated him.  But when he talked to me about how lost he felt after my mother died... I could see how real it was.  His pain was still so deep, and I know it doesn't excuse him leaving me, but..."

He stopped, shaken by how much it was getting to him to talk about all this after so long.

"But you know how it feels to be that lost," C.J. said.  "You understand what that's like."

Matt had never let himself really think about the obvious parallel, but yes, he did know.  And just as Wade Matlock had let go of someone he loved because he couldn't handle his grief, Matt knew he'd done the same thing after the war when he'd let go of the woman sitting beside him.

"He threw so much of his life away because he wouldn't face the pain.  All those years... then we had a few days together... and then he was gone.  And I know that he loved me.  The man saved my life.  But it seems like such a senseless waste of time, of all the things we could have done together, learned about each other."

His eyes had dropped to his lap, but C.J. let her fingers drift down to his hand, taking hold of it, and the action drew his attention back to her.  When she spoke to him, he could hear how much the story was affecting her in how strained her voice was.

"Well, I owe him even more than I thought I did.  Because I think he saved your life twice--that day here at the house and the day he asked Bill to take care of you."

That made him smile, because Houston couldn't imagine his life any different from how it had been.  Even with the bad--with his mother gone and the kidnapping--his childhood had been filled with love and stability and happiness.  But he had learned one important lesson from his biological father's life and that was that he didn't want to wait until time was almost run out before he made his way back to fix the regrets of his past.

"C.J., what we talked about this morning..."

"Houston, we don't--"

He shook his head, cutting her off.  "Just let me say this, okay?"

She sighed and took a moment to steel herself, and then she nodded.

"What we talked about this morning is no less important to me now than it was then.  And I know that we have to deal with this mess and find Cord and end this damn vendetta, and I know I have a lot to prove to you.  But I'm not lost anymore.  It's not going to take me a lifetime to figure out that what I gave up was too important not to make it right.  I'm ready now, and I'm willing to wait until you believe that."

Her eyes drifted shut and she drew in a deep breath.

"You have no idea how much I want to believe that," she replied, her voice nearly a whisper.  "I just..."

"Need time.  I know.  Lord knows you gave me enough of it to figure out how I felt, so... I owe you."

They both gave into a chuckle at that.  Truer words had never been spoken.  But then Matt drew her right hand toward him and kissed it gently.

"Just so long as you know that I'm here.  And I'm not going anywhere."

They held each other's gaze for a long beat and then she dropped her eyes and gave him a small nod just as she'd done that morning.  But this time... this time she didn't pull her hand away.

*****

As their second day in Texas passed without getting them any closer to Cord, Houston's frustration started to get the better of him.  They'd frozen Cody's bank accounts, had cops watching the home where his mother was living, and every known participant in the two past plots against Matt had been accounted for, all of them either still in prison or dead.  Cord hadn't been spotted anywhere.

Houston figured it was about the time he slammed the phone down, nearly knocking over  a side table in the guest house living room, that C.J. decided she needed to distract him, and so she'd suggested a walk down to the stables.  Thankfully the animals had all gone unhurt during fire, other than some upset at their surroundings being so chaotic.  So with guards keeping lookout--he wasn't willing to chance a Cody ambush with C.J. caught in the middle without someone around to help--Matt nodded and took her offered hand and they headed down to the barn where they'd spent what seemed like half their childhood.

Since it was a working ranch, the barn was always stocked with enough horses for the hands to do their work, but most of Matt's personal mounts were in California.  Still, it was an assortment of fantastic animals, and the group included two mustangs he'd taken in after their experience with Rosie.  Though she'd declined to take one as her own, C.J. gravitated toward them, and Scotch and Soda both whinnied excitedly at the attention she gave them.

"We should really take them to California," he said.  "Pete says they're doing good here, but that it always looks like they're staring out, just wanting to get away.  And they still won't socialize much with the others."

C.J. chuckled as she stroked their muzzles.  "They're restless spirits.  They'd look that way in California, too.  But I think they know they're safe here.  Just... they still wish they could run wild every now and then.  The other horses don't know what that's like, so it keeps these two a little separate.  But they have each other.  That's what's important."

Houston walked toward her and leaned against the railing as he patted Soda on the neck.

"It feels like I'm overthinking this whole thing, with Cord.  I keep looking for some big conspiracy, some massive plot.  But that was Elgin's style."

"Yeah, Cord's never been one for complicated thinking," C.J. agreed.  "Maybe the reason we can't find anymore trails is there aren't any.  He stole his mother's money and bribed someone or paid someone off, got help escaping, but that was probably the extent of his planning."

"He wanted me here in Texas, familiar territory, so the fire accomplished that.  But now he doesn't know how to get me where wants me."

C.J. nodded.  "So think simple.  Think back to the roots of all this.  If you were a brute like Cord and all you wanted was to win this fight, what would that mean to you?"

Houston mulled that over.  There was no quid pro quo open to Cord since Bill Houston had already passed on.  And because they were trying to think basic, quick revenge, this wasn't about money or Houston Industries.

That meant that honestly, all Cord probably wanted was to see Houston dead, and he wanted it to be at his hand.  So for all the security Matt had placed around his father's estate, there were probably no snipers or potential evil doers lurking around the borders.

Think back to the roots of all this.

C.J.'s words ran through his head again, and Houston felt a shutter in his mind open, revealing what should have been perfectly obvious to him.  Standing up straight, he reached out his hand toward her.

"We need to get back and call the park service, and I need to get Will, Roy and Vince on a plane here as soon as possible."

"The park service?  What does that..."

"Where it began... and if I'm right, I can't afford to go in there alone."

This had all started over land and oil... land owned first by Bill and then gifted to Matt for his college graduation.  The oil under that land belonged to the Codys in one of those old-school deals bound to result in conflict years later.  Once the first plot to stop Houston from turning that land over to the state had failed, he'd gone through with his promise and donated the land as a nature preserve.  To allow for the security and maintenance of the now state-run park, living quarters for the rangers and buildings for the maintenance equipment had been placed sporadically in out-of-the-way corners of the land.  And Houston suspected now that Cord was probably using one of them as a hideout... returning to the roots of their war with one another.

As soon as they'd returned to the guest house, Matt had put in a call to a friend at the state office, alerting him to put their rangers on notice of the possible dangers.  An hour later, a plane left Los Angeles carrying Vince, Will and Roy en route to Texas to provide backup, assistance Houston now feared he needed despite his worry about exposing his family to more danger.  He was committing to the theory that he'd find Cord in the wetlands, and his talk with C.J. had him convinced that all Cord wanted was Houston dead.  But they needed to involve the authorities, and someone had helped Cord escape.  That thought nagged at the back of Houston's mind, and he knew that he needed someone to watch his back.  Will and Vince were more than qualified to do just that, and were glad to be asked into service. 

Then there was the chanced that somehow he was wrong about all this, misreading Cord's intentions, and Houston needed to know Roy was here looking after C.J. for him just in case.  It was something he ended up confessing to her as they packed up the jeep to head out for the park before sunrise the next morning.

"Roy's not going to like it if you leave him behind.  You know how he loves crawling around in bushes looking for bad guys."

Matt laughed.  Normally Roy would be livid at being left out of the action.  But he knew this time, his uncle understood.

"Roy's got a much more important back to watch than mine."

As he spoke, his hand reached out and touched against her cheek, and even though she blushed, C.J. leaned into his touch.  It was their thing, this gesture of acknowledgement, but her pinked cheeks reminded him of the young, amazing girl who he'd fallen so hard for all those years ago... and of the second chance he'd promised them both.  Houston felt his determination to obliterate the dark cloud over their heads grow even stronger.

"When all this is over, what do you say we take a ride up to our ridge?  I'll even let you have first pick of the horses."

He let his hand ease away from her skin and watched as she wrapped her arms around herself as if she'd suddenly gotten cold.

"You be careful, okay?  No unnecessary drama, just... finish this."

"Is that a yes to the ride?"

She laughed softly and rolled her eyes at him.

"We'll go for a ride.  You just come back unbroken."

The urge to lean in and kiss her was overwhelming, but Houston knew it was way too soon for that.  She was letting him back in, consciously or not, but he had a lot to prove.  So he fought off his desire and gave her a smile and a nod before turning to join Will and Vince at the jeep.  His cousin laughed as the engine fired up.

"So, uh, I guess was imagining all that stuff with you really still being in love with C.J., right?"

Houston eyed Will, who simply laughed harder at him as Vince joined in.

"Oh, boy," Will continued, his words partially choked by his chuckles.  "Oh, yeah, I was totally wrong."

The heckling continued for several miles, but once the jeep started down the highway that led directly to the wetlands, their voices all faded out, the seriousness of what was about to happen forcing them all to narrow their focus just to the moments upcoming.  A few feet inside the park entrance, Matt stopped the jeep and Will and Vince climbed out and began walking down one of the public paths.  Matt parked in the staff lot and then hurried toward the first maintenance building in the park.  Inside, he found several officers from the local police, the department of public safety marshals looking for Cord and some of the park rangers.  Jake Wharton, an old friend who worked for the state parks, headed over, hand extended toward Matt.

"Houston, we had most everyone come in using civilian vehicles, keep the profile low.  Park's shut down, of course.  We've got the fifteen men here, and our rangers on patrol have been keeping an eye out since we got your initial phone call."

"Any idea where he's at?"

"We have a pretty good one, actually."  Jake led him to a table with a map of the whole area laid out.

"The ranger in sector 29 thought he'd seen movement in one of the staff cabins.  He was about to check it out when he got the 'be on the lookout' notice on the radio."

Houston knew the area.  It was isolated, a spot that wasn't visible from most of the security points in the park and where noise would be hard to hear from the main roads.

"Is there a way for us to get back there without using any of the main access points?" Houston asked.  Jake nodded.

"If we go out to sector 27, we can take paddleboats in.  They're pretty quiet, and we use those on patrol, so they wouldn't seem overly suspicious to him, not like twenty cars showing up."

Matt nodded.  "Okay, good.  But remember, he has to think I came alone, so you guys are going to have to stage a good distance away."

The group plotted out their next few movements and then started to gather up their gear for the trek.  Houston lingered behind a little, feigning a need to retie the lace on his hiking boot, but he used the movement to cautiously snake an earpiece out of his jacket pocket into his left ear before he lean forward to speak into the mike taped just inside his jacket lining.

"You get that?"

"We got it, Houston," came Vince's reply.  "Will's headed for 29.  I'll head for 27."

The chances that one of the DPS officers or the marshals were on Cord's payroll was remote, but Matt wasn't in the mood to take any chances.  So while he tried to draw Cord out, his friend and his cousin would watch the rest of the team for any suspicious moves.

Houston stood and picked up the bag full of gear he'd packed back at the house.  He made one last check of his primary gun and his backup, and then he headed out toward the group of waiting men.

It was time for his fight with the Codys to end once and for all.